Cryptocurrency plunge continues as the late-2017 bubble takes them all down, including Bitcoin

The total value of all cryptocurrencies currently in circulation has fallen below $200 billion for the first time since November 2017, according to new reports.

As the crypto bloodbath continues, investor forecasts are looking dimmer by the day, as a shocking 98 of the top 100 cryptos have reportedly lost value – some with no end in sight.

Even Bitcoin, the original and most widely-known crypto, recently fell below $6,000 for the first time since late June. Ether, the second most popular crypto, similarly plummeted in value by 17 percent in just 24 hours.

The values associated with these and other crypto coins have been so precipitous in recent months that many people have “started freaking out,” according to Kyle Samani, a manager partner at the crypto hedge fund Multicoin Capital.

There are conflicting viewpoints as to whether these are just necessary price corrections that correspond with the massive “bubble” increases last fall, or whether they point to the impending failure of cryptos at large.

A lack of proper regulatory oversight in the crypto world is also a concern among investors, some of whom have already been hit by major losses tied to hacking and other incidents of crypto theft, especially in Asia.

“People are starting to realize that they drove this stuff up in a feeding frenzy, and they’re starting to realize just how dangerous it is,” says Mark Grant, chief global strategist and managing director at B. Riley FBR Inc.

Growth of U.S. dollar has largely been a setback for cryptos

Another factor in the equation is the rise of the dollar, which has sent many potential crypto investors back into the traditional investment markets that, for years, had been showing signs of failure themselves.

This has long been part of the draw of cryptos like Bitcoin, which many people saw as a “safe haven” to store their wealth away from the fiat dollar, which is printed and controlled by the private Federal Reserve bank.

These and other factors have made cryptos a rocky road for many people, especially since Bitcoin and many other early iteration cryptos aren’t good for all that much besides trading. They have little-to-no practical utility in the real world, which makes them inherently worthless in terms of maintaining actual value.

“Even though Bitcoin is clearly an electricity-wasting Ponzi scheme built on zero real assets, some newbies are just now hearing about it, and they think they’ve discovered a perpetual motion get rich quick scheme that will allow them to acquire wealth without effort,” Adams writes.

“In truth, they’re just being suckered into a collapsing crypto-fairy tale that never panned out because it was based on bad economics in the first place.”

Will cryptos explode once the kinks are ironed out?

At the same time, cryptos are an ever-evolving paradigm with plenty of room for growth. Improvements are always taking place to various crypto platforms, and government regulators are increasingly moving forward with new strategies to help make them more secure and less volatile.

To some, these are all signs that the growth of cryptos has only just begun. In time, many of the worst kinks will be ironed out, and investors gradually will feel better about taking the plunge, some say.

“You have a crescendo, euphoria, a crash, and capitulation,” adds Samani. “We’re not as sad as you’d expect.”

For more opinions as to what will become of cryptocurrencies in the future, be sure to check out some of the videos posted to REAL.video.

You can also keep up with the latest news about Bitcoin and other crypto coins at BitcoinCrash.news.